The line of defense, put together by a law firm specialising in defending police officers in big money cases, goes like this: the social workers involved in the proceedings couldn’t have “clearly” known that dishonesty wasn’t acceptable in court and, even if they did know, they should remain immune from prosecution because they are government employees.

Even more remarkable still, is that this case has been going on for 16 years.

As it’s Friday, we thought we’d share part of the transcript from the case with you: